Out of the Silent Planet

The next morning, the entire hrossa village is buzzing with excitement for the hnakra hunt. Ransom is honored to join Hyoi in his boat with another young male hross named Whin, determined to show the hrossa that humans can be brave too. He kneels by Whin next to the pile of throwing-spears in the middle of the boat as Hyoi paddles in the back. There are nearly a hundred boats of hrossa crowded in the stream.

Ransom learns that the hrossa have the advantage of numbers and intelligence, while the hnakra has speed, invisibility under the water, and a tough hide. The only way to kill the hnakra is to wound it in the mouth with a spear. Hyoi and Whin each desperately want to be the one to throw the killing spear, infecting Ransom with their desire to be a hnakrapunt (hnakra-slayer).

Hyoi paddles out into the water and Ransom scans the calm surface tensely for any sign of the hnakra swimming underneath. After a long time, Whin takes over paddling and Hyoi joins Ransom in the front. Hyoi points out that an eldil is coming towards them over the water, but Ransom cannot see it. Hyoi greets the eldil, and Ransom hears a clear, high voice tell Hyoi that the Man with them (that is, Ransom himself) must go to Oyarsa to avoid further evil from the other “bent” humans. Whin laments that the eldil has told them to stop the hunt. Hyoi agrees that their priority now must be to deliver Ransom to Oyarsa. Ransom is disappointed that the two hrossa might miss their dream for his sake, and he pushes the other two to continue the hunt first.

At that moment, Whin notices the foam track that means the hnakra is swimming underwater and begins paddling furiously towards it. Hyoi throws spears into the water to bait the hnakra into opening its mouth. Ransom too throws spears, but then is himself thrown out of the boat when Whin paddles the boat onto the shore and crashes it. Hyoi leaps onto the hnakra’s back and hurls a spear into the hnakra’s snapping jaws. As Hyoi falls into the water, the hnakra dies.

Ransom, Hyoi, and Whin splash to shore and hug each other with joy and relief. Ransom is overcome, and knows now that hross and human are both hnau, and that all three of them have proved themselves through this hunt. Hyoi happily pronounces them all hnakrapunti—but Ransom is then distracted by the “familiar and civilized” sound of an English rifle shot. Blood blooms from a bullet wound in Hyoi’s torso.

Ransom kneels by Hyoi’s head and desperately explains that the two bent humans who came with him to Malacandra have shot him, because humans are truly only half-hnau. Ransom tries to apologize, but doesn’t know the hrossan word for “sorry.” Hyoi uses his last breath to once again call Ransom a hnakrapunt, and then dies. Ransom is overcome by the alien and animal nature of Hyoi’s still face, which had become so familiar to him over these last weeks.

Ransom tells Whin that the hrossa should kill all three humans if they are wise. Whin protests that only Oyarsa can kill hnau, and then asks why humans would kill. Ransom explains that humans do sometimes kill for pleasure, but his captors Weston and Devine most likely shot out of fear of the hrossa. Whin tells Ransom that he must now follow the orders of the eldil and go to Meldilorn, while the hrossa look for Weston and Devine.

Whin tells Ransom how to get to Meldilorn, a two-day journey which will take him out of the handramit and onto the harandra, past a place called Augray’s tower, where Augray will help him further. Whin assures Ransom that Oyarsa will not let the bent humans hurt him on his way, but Ransom is not too sure. However, Ransom is so horrified by the death of Hyoi at the hands of his countrymen that he can only do as Whin says.